‘Nashville’ Season 5 Gets Official Premiere Date

Nashville fans finally have an official premiere date for the show inspired by Music City. The show will make its two-hour premiere on Jan. 5 at 9PM ET.

Season 5 of Nashville will run every Thursday on CMT and fans will be able to stream the show the day after on Hulu. The creators of Thirtysomething, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, will assist in producing the series moving forward. The show is executive produced by Herskovitz, Zwick, Steve Buchanan and Callie Khouri.

In May, ABC announced that Nashville would be canceled, much to the surprise of fans — and the series' actors. Charles Esten — who played troubled singer-songwriter Deacon Claybourne on the show — previously told Storme Warren of SiriusXM’s the Highway that he got the news in a text from series creator Callie Khouri when the news went viral, since “it sort of broke quickly on social media.”

“For me, the biggest feeling, honestly … that keeps running through me … is that feeling of gratitude," he says. "I’ve been an actor for a long time. And I had, maybe at my age, given up thinking I would get a role like this or a show like this. In fact, I didn’t even know such a thing existed — it didn’t really until Nashville. I think there was a certain magic in it."

Esten recently shared news with audience members at the Grand Ole Opry that the show would return in December. While he was slightly off, fans can rest easy knowing the now-official Jan. 5 date.

Season regulars Hayden Panettierre, Esten, Lennon and Maisy Stella, Sam Palladio, Jonathan Jackson and Clare Bowen will return to the series, while Will Chase — who plays country star Luke Wheeler — has announced his departure. Entertainment Weekly reports that Connie Britton (Rayna James) has only signed on for 10 of the season's 22 episodes thus far, but that her deal is not yet final.